Importing email from Mail app and attachments

Hi there, hopefully an easy question to answer. :wink:
I have exported my email (up to the end of 2010) from mail app by selecting all of the email boxes in mail app and archiving them to a folder on my desktop.
I have then imported them all to Eagle Filer (EF) by dragging and dropping into the ‘records’ field/folder (whatever its called!)
So far, so good.

My question relates to attachments.

I can go to an email in EF and see that it has an attachment. If I click on this attachment, it opens in Mail app. It is this which has confused me.

If I delete all of my email from mail app (up to the end of 2010 - I am kind of archiving old mail here you see), what will happen when I cick on an email in EF which has an attachment? Will I still be able to open the attachment? Or is EF only able to do this currently because I still have the original email and attachment sitting in mail app?

Can anyone let me know?

Ta,

Lynden

The Importing Mail page notes that it’s better to use the capture key:

EagleFiler can also import “archive mailboxes” that have been exported from Mail, but for better data fidelity it is recommended that you import the mailbox back into Mail and then capture the messages from Mail to EagleFiler.

The same thing that happens now.

Yes, because Mail is opening EagleFiler’s copy of the attachment.

Thankyou
Thank you so much, that answers my question perfectly. I wanted to check first that it was safe to delete the original mails in mail app and that eagle filer was opening its own copy of an attachment.

That’s a VERY good feature and one that beats DevonThink hands down, as when it imports email, any attachments, though visible, are not openable (if that’s a word). Big cheer to Eagle Filer!

Thanks again for such a quick response as well.

Cheers,

Lynden

So, let me get this straight.

  1. I import a mail message with an attachment into EF.
  2. EF “copies” the message and the attachment into it’s own library.
  3. When I view the mail message by clicking once on it, the message is displayed in EF. But by clicking twice on it, the message is displayed in my Apple Mail program.
  4. If I click once on the attachment icon in EF, it opens the attachment in the Apple Mail program but it’s really pulling the attachment from EF.
    5.If it’s pulling the attachment from EF - where is that attachment stored within EF? Is it stored inside the mail message? Is it stored somewhere else that I can navigate to? When I try to search within EF for a mail attachment and use the “anywhere” option, because the filename doesn’t seem to catch the attachment name, I find the email that was sent that contains that attachment. But, I don’t find the actual attachment anywhere. So . . . where is it. . . really?

This is all correct.

EagleFiler stores messages in their original form, as they were sent over the Internet. A message may be stored in a .eml file (which then contains the message’s headers, its body, and its attachments) or in a mbox file (multiple messages combined into a mailbox). So, yes, the attachment is stored inside the mail message; it does not exist on disk as a separate file. EagleFiler considers the attachment’s filename and its contents to be part of the content of the mail message, which is why they can be found via an Anywhere search.

Thanks
Thank you so much for the clear explanation regarding the attachment. It all makes sense, but of course, we don’t always think of an email as it really happens. We think of it being in pieces instead of being one solid package of bits and bytes.

Thank you for helping not only me, but others I’m sure, to understand a little better.

Hello!

Thank you for the summary and the answer. As a test mode user, I have the same question. At first I found it very irritating that attachments were opened from EF in Apple Mail. Is it correct that the attachment itself is only represented by a link in EF? The attachment itself (e.g. a PDF) is not visible in EF.

Thanks and greetings,
Carsten

It’s not clear to me what you mean by “represented.” The full message data, including the attachment is stored in the EagleFiler library. PDF attachments are displayed as a link to open them in Mail (or another app). Some attachments, such as images, can be shown inline. The plan for the future is to allow direct access to all attachments from with EagleFiler.

The complete message data, including the attachment, is stored in the EagleFiler library.

I understood that thanks to the answers.

PDF attachments are displayed as a link to open them in Mail (or another application).

This is exactly what I meant. My test file was an email with a PDF attachment. I assumed that the PDF file would be displayed inline.

Some attachments, such as images, can be displayed inline.

I assumed that PDF files can also be displayed inline.

In the future, direct access to all attachments should be possible from EagleFiler.

Perfect. :slight_smile:

Thanks a lot for the great support! :slight_smile: Merry Christmas! Carsten